Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement that the committee is seeking “the relevant text messages, as well as any after-action reports issued to any and all departments of the USSS that relate to or relate to anyone way to the events of January 6, 2021”. The subpoenas come hours after the nine-member panel received a closed briefing from the watchdog for the Department of Homeland Security. The committee initially sought the electronic records in mid-January and issued a formal request in March for all communications received or sent by DHS officials between Jan. 5 and Jan. 7, 2021. THIS IS AN UPDATE UPDATE. Previous AP story follows below. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog on Friday briefed all nine members of the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol about its finding that the Secret Service deleted texts around Jan. 6, according to two people familiar with the matter. they know the material. While lawmakers were tight-lipped about what they heard, the closed-door briefing with Inspector General Joseph Koufari came two days after his office sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Homeland Security committees saying Secret Service agents had deleted messages. between January 5 and January 6, 2021 “as part of a device replacement program.” The deletion came after the watchdog’s office requested records from agents as part of its investigation into events surrounding the Jan. 6 attack, the letter said. For the Jan. 6 panel, the guard’s find raised the tantalizing prospect of missing evidence that could shed further light on Donald Trump’s actions during the uprising. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the House panel on Jan. 6, told The Associated Press on Friday that the committee is looking deeper into whether the records may have been lost. “There have been some conflicting positions on the issue,” the Mississippi lawmaker said. The private briefing was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss it. The Secret Service insists that proper procedures were followed. Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: “The suggestion that the Secret Service deleted malicious text messages upon request is false. In fact, the Secret Service is cooperating fully with the OIG in every way – whether it’s interviews, documents, emails or texts.” He said the Secret Service had begun resetting its mobile devices to factory settings in January 2021 “as part of a pre-planned, three-month system migration.” In this process, some data was lost. The inspector general first requested the electronic communications on Feb. 26, “after the migration had begun,” Guglielmi said. The Secret Service said it has provided a significant number of emails and chat messages containing conversations and details about Jan. 6 to the inspector general. He also said text messages from Capitol Police asking for help on Jan. 6 were preserved and provided to the inspector general’s office. The Senate Homeland Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service, is also waiting to hear from the inspector general about the letter, according to a person familiar with the committee’s deliberations who was not authorized to discuss them publicly. The Jan. 6 panel has renewed interest in the Secret Service after dramatic testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who recalled what she heard about former President Donald Trump’s actions on the day of the riot. Hutchinson recalled being told of a confrontation between Trump and his Secret Service as he angrily demanded to be taken to the Capitol, where his supporters would later breach the building. He also recalled hearing Trump tell security officials to remove the magnetometers for his Ellipse rally, even though some of his supporters were armed. Some details of that account were quickly disputed by those agents. Robert Engel, the agent who drove the presidential SUV, and Trump’s security official, Tony Ornato, are willing to testify under oath that no agent was attacked and that Trump never fell behind the wheel, a person familiar with the matter told the AP. theme. The person would not discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. With evidence still emerging, the Jan. 6 House committee on Friday, officials scheduled its next hearing to take place Thursday in primetime. The 8 p.m. hearing, which is the eighth in a series that began in early June, will delve deeper into the three hours in which Trump failed to act as a mob of supporters stormed the Capitol. It will be the first prime-time hearing since June 9, the first on the commission’s findings. 20 million people saw it.
Associated Press writer Gary Fields contributed.
title: “January 6 The Secret Service Subpoenas For Deleted Texts " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-27” author: “Lori Hammond”
Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement that the committee understood the messages had been “deleted.” Thompson outlined an aggressive timetable for producing the documents by Tuesday. “The USSS deleted text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, as part of a ‘device replacement program,’” Thompson said late Friday. He said the committee is “seeking the relevant text messages, as well as any subsequent reports issued to any and all departments of the USSS related or related in any way to the events of January 6, 2021.” The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The subpoenas come hours after the nine-member panel received a closed briefing from the watchdog for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service. The watchdog informed lawmakers of its finding that the Secret Service had deleted texts around Jan. 6, according to two people familiar with the matter. For the Jan. 6 panel, the guard’s finding raised the startling prospect of lost evidence that could shed more light on Trump’s actions during the riot, particularly after earlier testimony about the president’s confrontation with security as he tried to join his supporters on Capitol Hill. It was a rare action for the commission to issue a subpoena to an executive branch department. The committee’s letter was to USSS Director James Murray, who is set to retire at the end of the month. While lawmakers were tight-lipped about what they heard, the closed-door briefing with Inspector General Joseph Koufari came two days after his office sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Homeland Security committees saying Secret Service agents had deleted messages. between January 5 and January 6, 2021 “as part of a device replacement program.” The deletion came after the watchdog’s office requested records from agents as part of its investigation into events surrounding the Jan. 6 attack, the letter said. The committee initially sought the electronic records in mid-January and issued a formal request in March for all communications received or sent by DHS officials between Jan. 5 and Jan. 7, 2021. Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the House panel on Jan. 6, told The Associated Press on Friday that the committee is looking deeper into whether the records may have been lost. “There have been some conflicting positions on the issue,” the Mississippi lawmaker said. The private briefing was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss it. The Secret Service insists that proper procedures were followed. Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: “The suggestion that the Secret Service deleted malicious text messages upon request is false. In fact, the Secret Service is cooperating fully with the OIG in every way – whether it’s interviews, documents, emails or texts.” He said the Secret Service had begun resetting its mobile devices to factory settings in January 2021 “as part of a pre-planned, three-month system migration.” In this process, some data was lost. The inspector general first requested the electronic communications on Feb. 26, “after the migration had begun,” Guglielmi said. The Secret Service said it has provided a significant number of emails and chat messages containing conversations and details about Jan. 6 to the inspector general. He also said text messages from Capitol Police asking for help on Jan. 6 were preserved and provided to the inspector general’s office. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service, is also awaiting an update from the inspector general on the letter, according to a person familiar with the committee’s deliberations that it was not authorized. to discuss them publicly. Sen. Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, said in a statement that he was “deeply troubled” by the OIG’s recent letter. Portman, the Homeland Security committee member, added “It is important that the Department be transparent with its inspector general, Congress and the American public.” The Jan. 6 panel has renewed interest in the Secret Service after dramatic testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who recalled what she heard about Trump’s actions on the day of the riot. Hutchinson recalled being told of a confrontation between Trump and his Secret Service as he angrily demanded to be taken to the Capitol, where his supporters would later breach the building. He also recalled hearing Trump tell security officials to remove the magnetometers for his Ellipse rally, even though some of his supporters were armed. Some details of that account were quickly disputed by those agents. Robert Engel, the agent who drove the presidential SUV, and Trump’s security official, Tony Ornato, are willing to testify under oath that no agent was attacked and that Trump never fell behind the wheel, a person familiar with the matter told the AP. theme. The person would not discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. With evidence still emerging, the Jan. 6 House committee on Friday, officials scheduled its next hearing to take place Thursday in primetime. The 8 p.m. hearing, which is the eighth in a series that began in early June, will delve deeper into the three hours in which Trump failed to act as a mob of supporters stormed the Capitol. It will be the first prime-time hearing since June 9, the first on the commission’s findings. This previous hearing was watched by 20 million people.
Associated Press writer Gary Fields contributed.
For full coverage of the January 6 hearings, go to
